The Spiral
by DuskAshleaf
Summary: Just when Juvia begins to think that she might have a chance with Gray, things start to go horribly wrong. What started off as a simple act of loving Gray-sama, may just escalate into something she no has no control over as her past slowly catches up to her.
1. Top of the stairway

**A/N: Hello friends! This is my first proper fanfiction that I'm writing to which I will stick to (hopefully). I won't be asking you to put up with my faults (which I'm sure will wiggle their way into my writing)and would appreciate it a great deal if you could point them out to me so I can improve.**

 **Thanks minna, hope you enjoy!**

 **-Dusk**

-X-

 **CHAPTER 1**

Juvia peeped from behind a rock, her well trained eyes sweeping the scene in front of her looking for her precious Gray-sama. Random garments lay scattered on the ground informing her of the fact that her beloved had passed through here quite recently.

She quickly followed the trail with haste picking up his clothes on the way.

-X-

'Really Gray! You're such an idiot!' cried the blonde as she threw her hands up in exasperation. 'You said the bandits were last sighted here!' She sat down on the warm sand with a huff.

The dark haired man gulped, not a stranger to Lucy's anger that often rivalled even Erza's.

'They were! The villagers were sure this is where their lair was!' He said in a lame attempt to save his ass.

'But they clearly aren't!' screamed Lucy bursting into a fitful rage. 'It's seven in the evening and there's not even the slightest signs of a hideout anywhere! We've been walking for more than ten hours now. I refuse to take another step!'

The ice mage groaned as he realized that further protest was going to fall upon deaf ears.

'Fine then. We'll stay here.'

Lucy looked at him incredulously. 'Are you kidding?! In the middle of nowhere?!' She screeched.

'Yes here.' Gray said with finality putting the fear of getting his butt kicked by the celestial spirit mage at the back of his mind. 'It's getting dark. Heading back will be pretty dangerous. I rather stay here for the night than get ambushed by the bandits.'

She blinked at him but quickly followed it with a curt nod. She had more than enough sense to realize that he was right. These sand dunes were well known for the large number of criminals it was plagued by. 'Alright. Let's set up camp on top of that outcrop. We'll be able to keep a look out from there.' With that she began making her way up the slope.

Gray heaved a sigh of relief. No lumps on the head and all bones intact. That went much more smoothly than he had expected. He then turned around to follow her to the place they were planning to spend the night.

-X-

All this, quite unknown to the duo, was actually being witnessed by a certain blue haired woman in an exceptionally jealous and infuriated fashion.

Juvia sniffed in an injured manner, an air of contempt surrounding her.

How dare Lucy do this to her! Especially when she had told her only a few days back with her face the colour of Erza's hair that she was in fact in love with a certain salmon haired man and definitely not her Gray-sama. Juvia had in exchange quite generously told her about her undying adoration for the ice mage (though Lucy's response to this revelation was far from satisfactory. She had simply rolled her eyes and laughed before patting her on the shoulder in a fond way).

Now that she had finally gotten over some of her insecurities, Lucy just had to go and stab her in the back. Her blood boiled as she remembered the happenings of the day before.

She had been sitting by her precious Gray-sama and in general chatting about the happenings of the guild feeling rather content and satisfied with life. She had been talking quite fervently about how she believed Mirajane may have a thing for Laxus when he had suddenly interrupted her merry prattle.

'Juvia?' He said.

She stopped and looked at him inquiringly.

'Yes Gray-sama?'

'You know that Erza's on one of her visits to Crime Sociere, Natsu's got food poisoning and that Lucy's taking care of him. So I was wondering…' At this point he trailed off refusing to meet her gaze.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. Yes! He was finally going to ask her! This was too good to be true! The few times that they had gone on a mission alone together, it had always been because of the type specific requests (water and ice combos were apparently very much in demand) but this time she had checked. There were no such requests up on the board. He was for the first time going to genuinely ask her out on a mission!

'Would you mind coming on a-' What he was going to say was cut off mid- sentence by an enthusiastic voice hailing the man.

'Gray!' Lucy cried from the other side of the guild heading towards them at a quick pace.

They both turned towards the speaker with a ranging sense of annoyance. Gray's was mild but Juvia's had rocketed sky-high.

'Not now of all times!' She thought bitterly to herself.

By now the blonde woman had reached where they were seated and as soon as she was near him, a sheet of paper was thrust forward at the only male present.

Gray plucked it out of her hand and stared at it before looking up.

'A mission Lucy?'

'Yup!' She answered cheerfully not noticing the glare the water mage was generously bestowing upon her. 'It's meant for two people, one male and one female. It's got a great pay too. Both Natsu and Erza aren't here so we can go for it.'

Juvia felt her heart begin to writhe painfully inside her. That mission would have been perfect for Gray and her! Her hands balled into fists as she fought back her fury.

But Gray frowned at the piece of paper before saying hesitantly. 'Weren't you looking after flame-brain?'

Lucy had the decency to blush. 'Yes I was but he's better now. He told me to go because he knows I haven't paid this month's rent money. Plus he has Happy. He'll be fine.'

He remained silent and continued to look at the sheet as if lost in thought.

Lucy finally losing her patience pleaded softly. 'Please Gray. I need the money.'

Juvia's eyes widened as she heard those words leave her love rivals mouth. Her anxious brain that had already done a major in over thinking and blowing things out of proportion began to imagine all sorts of sleazy requests that could be a part of this job. She continued to observe Gray silently with a heavy heart. She knew he wouldn't refuse her. And of course as usual, when it concerned a certain ice mage, she was right.

He heaved a sigh and shrugged. 'Sure. We'll leave at about twelve if that's okay with you.'

Lucy nodded with a grateful smile. 'See you later then.' She said and departed.

After a long awkward pause, Gray stood up and muttered under his breath more to himself than to Juvia. 'Well, I should get ready I guess.' As he moved towards the guild entrance he stopped.

She sat rigid on her seat almost unable to breathe. Her heart began to race. He was going to say something to her. She could feel it.

But to no avail. After what seemed like ages he continued on his way without a word and exited the hall.

That was when she decided that even though Lucy was her nakama, she would forever remain her love-rival until the time the celestial mage probably got married. Even then Juvia would have to be cautious.

So here she was. All alone in the world, under the impression that everybody was out to get her. Apart from her Gray-sama. He would never hurt her of course.

But yet he was out on a mission with Lucy when he should have been spending time with her.

Betrayal was in the air.

She saw them setting up camp and their voices filled the quiet night air. Not able to bear it any longer, she turned away and slid down on to the soft ground, her back pressed against the uneven surface of the rock. Her eyes welled up but she brushed her hand over them before they could overflow. Seeing Lucy with Gray together before both the women's confession to each other had been well…manageable. But now that both their true feelings were out there in the open and she had finally begun to trust and get to know the celestial mage properly, it brought about more pain than childish anger that she used to feel coursing through her before.

Life just wasn't fair.

Long after the two had gone to sleep on the cliff, Juvia remained in full wakefulness, her troubled mind refusing to let her sleep.

After several minutes (Maybe even hours. Who knows?), a crunch was what pulled her out of her reverie.

Her head whipped around towards the direction of the sound but was unable to see anything due to the darkness. Then suddenly, the clouds above parted allowing the moon to peak out for just a precious second, enough to catch sight of a shadow heading towards where her precious Gray-sama was camping. She was instantly reminded of the bandits Lucy had been talking about earlier that day.

She immediately leaped out from her hiding place without a second thought letting out a shout in the process.

'Water Lock!' She cried.

The person was surrounded by water but then after a heartbeat, the water froze and shattered.

'WHAT THE HELL?!'

Juvia gasped upon hearing the far too familiar voice.

The moon once again took the liberty to show itself and now caught in its light the soaking wet figure of Gray on the sand.

'Juvia?! What're you doing here?!' Gray exclaimed.

Being well aware that it was kind of strange to be found in the desert in the middle of the night, even by her standards, she fumbled for an answer.

'Well…I…I'm sorry Gray-sama. I just-'

She was saved from giving a very embarrassing but truthful explanation to him by quite an unexpected interruption.

The air around them had suddenly turned yellow.

Both pairs of hands flew to their respective throats finding it difficult to breathe all of a sudden.

'I smell sulphur.' Choked out Gray with difficulty.

Juvia nodded her eyes watering. 'We…need to get out…of here.'

Both of them hurtled forward blindly noticing that they were almost completely unable to breathe by now.

But luckily, it only took them a few steps to reach clean air. They crumpled onto the desert floor gasping.

A group of people loomed over them. The moon was out but that didn't make anything easier. They were wearing some sort of cloth around their faces that made identifying them impossible. But one thing was clear from their attire. They were definitely a group of bandits.

Gray and Juvia got up after regaining a bit of their energy. Two people standing in the front of the crowd talked in whispers before the one on the left jerked his head towards the duo. The bandits immediately came rushing towards them brandishing swords.

There were about fifteen of them but nothing that they couldn't handle. They were a weak bunch and the whole situation became a whole lot easier when somewhere in the middle of the fight Lucy joined in.

Soon all the bandits lay on the floor defeated. It hadn't taken much time.

As the three surveyed their victory, their eyes fell upon a single person standing a few meters away.

'The leader I believe.' mumbled Lucy.

Gray nodded and Juvia said nothing. At this point the ice mage turned to the blue haired woman.

'Thanks for the help during the fight Juvia but I think you should stand down for this one. It's our mission after all.'

She nodded feeling hurt. But he was of course right. She had no business to be here in the first place. And anyway, her Gray-sama was capable enough to handle this without getting hurt. She turned around and moved away from them reluctantly to what she considered to be a safe distance.

With her out of the way, the two remaining mages walked towards the leader of the bandits. The air around them immediately began to change and take on a different hue.

Worry grasped her as she realized that the fog was the same one from before and it took all of her willpower to stop herself from rushing to Gray's aid.

What happened inside the yellow dome always remained a mystery to her because once the air returned to normal, what met her eyes was Lucy standing with Loke looking at two crumpled figures on the ground. Not one.

She dashed towards them as fast as she could, her fear propelling her forward.

What she saw still haunted her nightmares.

The boss lay on the floor unconscious or probably even dead but she scarcely glanced at him. What grabbed her attention was the ice mage.

Cuts covered his whole body and a gash ran down his torso. A dark puddle had formed around him that looked very much like blood. His face was bloody and swollen.

Her breath hitched as she knelt beside him. 'Calm down. Calm down.' She chanted in her head though her first instinct was to wail hysterically. Her hand shook as she took his pulse. She inhaled sharply as she felt a faint throb.

'Alive.' She croaked out to nobody in particular.

She faintly felt someone kneel beside her and stretch their hand towards Gray's limp form. Her control slipped.

She shrieked.

'NO! GET AWAY FROM HIM!' She swatted the hand away and fixed her unfocused, crazed eyes upon the fiend next to her. An arm stretched out and wrapped around her. She tried to shrug it off half-heartedly but soon succumbed into the comforting embrace.

'Loke, pick him up. Gently. He needs medical attention immediately,' a voice spoke from what seemed like miles away. Fingers gently ran through her hair. 'I'll take care of Juvia.'

A sudden jerk indicated that her body was being moved but she was in no state to care.

'Gray-sama…'

With his name on her lips, she lost all consciousness.

-X-

She awoke with a jolt, memories flooding her.

'No… This can't be happening…' She clutched her hair her eyes squeezed shut.

'Juvia?'

Her eyes shot up to meet a pair of brown orbs staring at her from the door.

'Are you okay?' Lucy asked softly as she approached her blue haired friend.

The water mage looked at her beseechingly. 'Gray…sama?'

Lucy came over and sat down on the edge of the bed Juvia was lying on. 'He's all right.'

Juvia found herself heaving a sigh of relief.

'But it was a narrow escape. If we had reached another minute late it would probably have cost us…quite heavily.' she cautiously said.

Juvia received the information more calmly than Lucy had expected. In fact there was nothing forthcoming from the blunett's side at all.

They stayed in silence for a while before the water mage said something so quietly that Lucy had to strain her ears to hear properly. 'Can Juvia see him?'

'Obviously. But he's still unconscious. Maybe later when he wakes up. The doctor says he is to be left alone. To regain his strength in peace.'

Juvia gripped the bed sheet. 'Now? Please?'

There was something in her voice when she added the 'please' that broke Lucy's resolve. She sized up the broken woman next to her before she said grimly. 'Fine. Not now though. Too many nurses nearby. I'll come at nine to take you to him. Rest till then. You're in no condition to move around you know.'

Juvia nodded never meeting her eyes. The blonde felt troubled. Something wasn't adding up.

As she lay her friend back down on the mattress, she caught sight of the glassy expression, her eyes listlessly staring into oblivion. As Lucy went out to call the doctor she wondered what was going through Juvia's head at that moment.

-X-

The fight had been extremely one sided. Completely in the favour of the wrong side.

Both mages were blinded and suffocated due to the fog. The boss of the criminal gang landed hit after hit upon both Gray and Lucy. She was taken more by surprise than the ice mage so she had fallen to the ground almost immediately after the first hit wondering what on earth was happening. She had felt so light headed that even considering calling a spirit had not crossed her mind at that particular moment. If it hadn't been for Loke who forced open his gate and kicked the bad guy's ass, they would have all been goners. Apparently the deadly effect of the fog was only restricted to humans.

Once the area had cleared up she had caught sight of Gray. Before she could react, Juvia had been there cradling his head in her arms checking his pulse. When Loke knelt beside her in an attempt to lift Gray's body the way she had screeched was so shocking that Lucy had needed to gather her bearings before she could carefully wrap her arms around Juvia's tense body in an attempt to comfort her. The water mage almost instantly went limp in her embrace.

After that, it was a blur. Loke ran ahead to the hospital while carrying Gray whereas Lucy stayed back with the boss and Juvia. She summoned Virgo even though she almost blacked out at the amount of energy it sucked out of her already exhausted body (thank Mavis for the second origin). It wasn't long before she was at the hospital lying on a bed.

And now here she was, a day hence from the incident, walking towards Juvia's door to lead her to Gray's room.

She pushed it open and was met with the sight of the blunett sitting up with feet already stuck into the hospital slippers. She was ready to go.

'Come on.' Said Lucy as she helped Juvia stand up. The doctor had said that she had suffered a big shock whose after affect was severe weakness. She could clearly see his meaning as the blunett stumbled and almost fell.

'This isn't a good idea. We could go tomorrow. You're still really weak.'

Juvia slowly shook her head. 'Juvia must see him now.' She mumbled something more but it made no sense to the celestial spirit mage.

Lucy gave up. 'Not my fault if you faint then.' She said lamely. Her friend responded with silence.

With a sigh she took her arm gently and led her out of the room and down the corridor. Gray's ward was only a few meters away.

She opened the door on reaching it and stood aside. Juvia, with faltering steps finally managed to reach his bedside and collapsed into a chair next to the bed.

Lucy closed the door wanting to give them privacy. She made herself comfortable on the opposite couch and prepared herself for a long wait as she kept her eyes fixed on the door.

-X-

She broke down.

The tears came without any hindrance now that she saw his body. Alive. But yet so…lifeless.

Juvia sobbed into her arms resting on the bed side.

She would never be able to forgive herself. Ever. What she had done was unthinkable. Something she'd always wanted to avoid.

She had done nothing.

When she saw him on the floor half dead, what did she do? She was overwhelmed. She didn't help. She went hysterical. Lucy on the other hand (provided the voice in the nightmare had been Lucy), had handled the situation deftly and ably.

Who was she to pine for Gray when she couldn't even help save his life?

Shame flooded her but her mind was made up.

Never again. Never again was she going to obsess over Gray. Not for her sake oh no. She would continue to love him. Silently. He did not deserve an incompetent fool like her. He was worthy of so much better. Someone who could not only provide him with happiness but also safety that she herself could never be able to give him. Someone like Lucy.

This thought made grief engulf her all over again. But she bit back sobs and stood up shakily. This was what she deserved. It would be her punishment.

She walked over to the door and rested her hand on the door knob and looked at the bandage covered face that was her beloveds. A lone tear streaked down her cheek. A tear filled with sadness, loneliness and above all self-hatred. Then without a word, she turned around and walked out of the room.


	2. Circumvent

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"strongspan style="text-decoration: underline;"CHAPTER 2/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal"It was once again a rowdy day at the guild. It was just like any other day but at the same time, something was amiss. There was an air of discomfort hanging around that seemed to make everyone feel highly unsettled./p  
p class="MsoNormal"People attempted to go about normally, do their daily chores and whatever other business they had at the guild but nobody could deny that something was wrong./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Every person present, whether they were eating, drinking or simply dosing in one of the chairs, found their eyes drifting towards the blunett sitting on a bar stool nursing a coffee cup in her hands./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The aura radiating from her was peculiar to say the least. She seemed a little too quiet and reserved for comfort. And the only person who had an inkling about what might be wrong with her was the blonde standing at the opposite end of the hall currently extremely preoccupied with her own thoughts./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'What do you think's up with her?' asked Cana in a slurred tone, drunkenly leaning on a pillar for support, a hand placed protectively on the barrel on her left. Her eyes were fixed on the water mage./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'Yeah!' exclaimed Levy with a frown marring her small face. 'She's even stopped stalking Gray!'/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Lisanna shook her head sadly and sighed 'And she won't even tell us why. It's really beginning to bother me.'/p  
p class="MsoNormal"The petite bookworm looked thoughtfully at the only person present in the group who hadn't said a word./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'What do you think Lu-chan?'/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Lucy who was engrossed in her own thoughts had completely missed the whole conversation. She was promptly brought back to reality by a rude poke in the ribs./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'Hey!' She cried out as she massaged the spot where she had just been jabbed and looked accusingly at the offender namely Cana./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The brunette shrugged. 'Levy asked you something.'/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Lucy looked around feeling lost because she frankly had no idea what was being asked of her. Luckily, the solid script mage at her side, being exceptionally insightful, figured out her helplessness before anybody else./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'I asked you if you knew what was wrong with Juvia.' She repeated herself with a smile./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Lucy shook her head when she finally managed to get a hold of the question. 'Nope. She hasn't told me anything yet.'/p  
p class="MsoNormal"The others present all let out a collective sigh and commenced talking about something else./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The blonde on the other hand remained mute. She had too much on her mind to take part in any sort of exchange as of now./p  
p class="MsoNormal"What she'd just said concerning the blunett was far from a lie. Indeed Juvia had told her nothing. But that didn't necessarily have to mean that she knew nothing./p  
p class="MsoNormal"One month prior to this day, the incident had taken place. Nobody really liked talking about it because Gray had, without a doubt, almost lost his life on the mission. Everybody was well aware of the fact that Juvia was affected by the incident but nobody but Lucy really knew to what degree./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The water mages face when it had all occurred was still etched in her mind. She shivered violently as she tried imagining herself in Juvia's shoes at that particular moment. The celestial mage without a doubt wanted to help her friend through this trying period but it was as if the blunett had built a wall around herself./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The first thing that Lucy had done when they had finally returned to the guild after that fateful mission was to stretch out a helping hand to provide support to her nakama. But all her attention was for naught. Juvia seemed too distant. Every time she tried getting closer to her, the young woman would discretely but yet obstinately drift away. So of course after a while Lucy had to let it go. She gave up trying to push her way into Juvia's life but that definitely didn't stop her from keeping an eye on her. And her observations only made it clearer to her day by day./p  
p class="MsoNormal"There was something abnormally wrong with Juvia./p  
p class="MsoNormal"And it was something that however hard she tried, she could just not figure out. But one thing was clear. It had something to do with a certain raven haired ice mage./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"-X-/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Juvia shivered violently as she made her way towards Fairy Hills. Winter used to be her favourite season but lately it only managed to put her in a really foul temper./p  
p class="MsoNormal"But that wasn't the only reason for her black mood as of late./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Her mind slowly, like every other day, began to drift back to that one thing that she had now grown to hate./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Loving Gray-sama./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She violently shook her head in a desperate attempt to clear her mind of such thoughts but her actions only managed to spoil her hair./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'Argh!' she cried out as she tried to set her dishevelled hair back into place. But soon she realized it was futile. Her gloved fingers only made the matter worse. She gave up and continued trudging down the road./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Her breath came out as short puffs of fog as she made her way back to her dwellings. It was cold but she somehow didn't feel it./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Her hands were numb but she felt no urgency to warm them. Strange./p  
p class="MsoNormal"It didn't take long to reach her home. As soon as she was inside, she collapsed onto her bed and buried her face into the pillow./p  
p class="MsoNormal"For how long she remained in that position she did not know, but when she turned her head to look out of the window, it had just started snowing./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She rose gently from the bed and walked towards it. She pressed her palms against the glass not even flinching at the acute coldness. Instead, she revelled in it. It bit into her skin but she did not mind. Far from it. She wanted it. She begged for it. Her warm breath fogged up the glass as she bent forward resting her forehead against the frigid surface. Her hand wiped across the surface to clear it up./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The snow outside fell in delicate swirls dancing a waltz for her eyes alone. Every so often a snow flake would come and rest on her window pane and before long it retained none of its former wood like appearance. And the quiet. That was something else entirely. It was beautiful, magical and ethereal even, holding within it delicate melancholic strains that reverberated within her silent heart making it soar and plummet with every note./p  
p class="MsoNormal"And all of a sudden she was reminded of why she had always loved winter./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She sighed and moved away from the window. Thinking of such things were going to get her nowhere./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Her Gray-sama had returned to the guild from the hospital sometime back and it was all too fresh to forget. Dwelling on things like ice and snow only made the thoughts worse./p  
p class="MsoNormal"As she sat on her bed and stared at the opposite wall, the emptiness inside her grew slowly, steadily. It devoured her until there was nothing left. And before she knew it, tears started running down her cheeks. Despite herself, she started laughing. The tears came faster but so did her insane chuckles. It had become a routine. Go to the guild. Pick up a mission. Finish it. Come back home. Cry. And above all, live with the pain./p  
p class="MsoNormal"But what could she possibly do?/p  
p class="MsoNormal"It was all for Gray-sama. What she wanted was of no priority./p  
p class="MsoNormal"So then why in Mavis' name did it hurt so much?/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"-X-/p  
p class="MsoNormal"His muscles flexed as he proceeded with his remedial work outs. Gray Fullbuster looked down at his body and grimaced. The grotesque gash down his chest was far from healed and the tiny scars strewn across his body still showed no signs of fading even though he'd been taking the medication that Porlyusica had prescribed for him. The sweat trickling down his skin stung sharply as it slid over his injuries but he didn't really notice the pain./p  
p class="MsoNormal"His mind kept wondering back to a certain blue haired mage. He didn't understand what was going on anymore. It was as if everything had turned a one eighty degrees in the matter of a day./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Juvia, the ever cheerful blunett who had always been there for him had seemingly disappeared from his life./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Gray punched the wall to his right and let out a strangled cry as all his pent up frustration boiled over./p  
p class="MsoNormal"At first, when he came back to his senses in the guild's infirmary, the person at his side had been unsurprisingly, Wendy. As soon as she saw him awake she squealed and started running some rapid tests while constantly babbling about something which at that time Gray couldn't quite fathom with his muddled head. After what seemed like ages, she looked satisfied with the results and told him to wait as she ran out of the room to fetch the others./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Soon enough there were hordes of people crowding around him with Lucy, Natsu and Erza doing most of the questioning. But as people surrounded him, he couldn't help but feel someone was missing. As he looked around, it suddenly dawned upon him./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'Where's Juvia?'/p  
p class="MsoNormal"All of a sudden the whole room fell quiet and almost immediately loud chatter broke out inquiring about the said water mages location./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'That's strange. I saw Juvia standing by the request board while I was coming here. Why didn't she tag along?' Erza asked with a frown./p  
p class="MsoNormal"It was as if someone had plugged his ears after that. Juvia wasn't here. Why? Had something happened?/p  
p class="MsoNormal"A strange feeling, a mix of hurt and worry, welled up inside of him./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The rest of the day passed in a blur./p  
p class="MsoNormal"After that he didn't really keep track of much. Almost immediately after he could stand, he was rushed to Porlyusica who began some weird treatment while screaming throughout the whole three days that he spent with her about how much she hated having him there. The incredibly boring time that he spent with the healer was often punctuated with pleasant visits from people. Even Lyon came to visit him all the way from Lamia Scale./p  
p class="MsoNormal"But Juvia didn't turn up even once./p  
p class="MsoNormal"It didn't take him long to make up his mind that the first thing that he would do when he went back to the guild was to talk to her./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"-X-/p  
p class="MsoNormal"When finally he was granted permission to return to the guild, the anticipation of seeing Juvia was queerly immense. But when he got to Fairy Tail, he was informed by a certain pink haired man stuffing his face with food that the blunett was out on a job./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He didn't really mind at that time. Surely she'd come back. He could always talk to her then./p  
p class="MsoNormal"But soon enough a week passed by without even a glimpse of her. Gray could feel himself fretting. His mind kept imagining Juvia dead, kidnapped or other incidents whose likes of which give people nightmares./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Before long he found himself at the bar asking Mira about her./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'Oh she was here a day ago! Didn't you see her Gray?'/p  
p class="MsoNormal"The ice mage blinked blankly at the woman./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'No I didn't as a matter of fact.'/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Mira's brow puckered as she tapped her chin with a finger. 'I think I know the reason behind that. She's not been herself lately. I believe she's working too much. I haven't seen her take a single break in the past two weeks. She doesn't even pause between jobs! Do you know why she's doing this?'/p  
p class="MsoNormal"He shook his head. Juvia working constantly without even a break between jobs? From his knowledge, the only time people did that was when they were short of money which was never the case when it came to Juvia. She had a lot of money saved up from her time in Phantom Lord so she hardly went out on jobs out of sheer necessity. It wasn't like her to act like a workaholic./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Baffled, Gray headed back to his stool at a nearby table./p  
p class="MsoNormal"It wasn't until four days later that he finally saw her./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Immediately he dashed over to her side not caring if people found his behaviour strange./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'Juvia!' He cried out./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The water mage showed no signs of hearing him./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'Juvia!' Gray called out to her again. He reached forward, grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. Her eyes remained glued to the floor./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'Juvia? Are you alright?' He found himself inquiring while peering down at her expressionless face./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'Juvia is fine.' Her voice sounded strangled./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The ice mage gulped. There was something unmistakably wrong here. This wasn't like her at all./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'Um okay then. I was wondering,' began Gray, 'do you want to go-' He was interrupted by a sudden movement. The blunett was now standing straighter than usual with her gaze fixed on something behind him./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'Juvia must go now.' She said in a firm voice and started walking away without even waiting for his response./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'Wait!' He cried out. He was vaguely aware of the guild falling silent as he ran after her. But by the time he made it out of the guild, she'd disappeared./p  
p class="MsoNormal"And that was when the cat and mouse chase started. On several occasions after that he tried talking to her, approaching her or even following her but never once did she respond to his efforts. It was as if someone had taken away the resident water mage and replaced her with a fake./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Before long he started to feel the same way he did when Ul died. Maybe the same intensity was missing but the general outline of the feeling was identical. It was as if someone had removed a chunk of his happiness and thrown it in the bin. He knew all his friends were worried about him but he couldn't help feeling this way. But what shocked him the must was how he was reacting to the situation. Until now he hadn't even known how important she really was to him. It pained him to even think of how Juvia had suffered all this time because of him ignoring her. Even though he'd never really giver her much attention, she'd always been there for him. He felt like such an asshole./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Gray sat down on the stool next to his bed and buried his face in his hands./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Why was it always that when he finally understood the importance of something that he had to go lose it?/p 


	3. Medicine

**CHAPTER 3**

She couldn't do this. She didn't have it in her.

Juvia's hand trembled as she touched her reflexion in the mirror facing her. Her eyes were glassy, lifeless. But she knew she had to go ahead with her decision. The arrangements had been made and tomorrow was the day she was going to go public with it.

Her eyes drifted to the paper lying on her bed, reliving the day that was invariably going to change her life forever.

 _Cool rivulets of water ran down the blunett's back as she massaged her scalp with her fingers. The soft smell of lavender permeated the air and relaxed her tense muscles. It was quite the rare occasion to have the time to spend her sparse leisure hours enjoying in the bathroom especially now that she hardly ever stayed at home._

 _She turned off the shower and picked up her fluffy blue towel. For a fraction of a second she paused as the memories of all her Gray-sama dedicated merchandise flooded her mind. But that was all in the past. She swiftly wrapped the cloth around her before walking out of the bathroom._

 _Juvia was in the process of putting on her sleep wear when her mirror caught something in its reflexion. Something that was not previously there before she had gone for a bath, was now lying on her bedside table. Her brow puckered and she made her way towards it._

 _It was a plain brown envelop with no address written. She weighed it in her hand and held it up towards her lamp. The contents seemed to be a sheet or two of paper. Juvia looked around trying to see where it could have possibly come from. This was Fairy Hills, not just any dorm. No one could possibly just walk into somebody's room and leave letters like this. Still frowning, she slit the top of the envelop, removed the paper within and began reading._

 _Her heart stopped. The sheet slipped out of her fingers and slowly found itself resting on the water mages carpet, staring up at her ashen face._

 _Things could probably not get any worse._

-X-

'Have you been taking the medicines I gave to you?' Porlyusica grunted out as she yanked around the said man's arm to check his movements.

'For the umpteenth time, yes I have,' Gray replied tilting his head back to rest against the back of his chair.

The doctor roughly tugged at his hair to straighten him up almost immediately. 'Don't move unless I tell you to.'

Gray rolled his eyes but maintained his posture as she continued prodding him.

After about another ten minutes of that torture she finally let him sit back and relax as she moved around her cottage presumably gathering his medication.

She dropped the full bag on the table in front of him and gave him a stony look. 'It's the same stuff as before but I don't think it's going to help you.'

Gray frowned. 'What do you mean? You said my injuries were curable.'

Porlyusica picked up the mortar and pestle that had been sitting on the table and began to grind whatever was inside slowly. 'You need to understand that wounds such as yours do not heal automatically. They need time and above all, an immense amount of mental conviction on your behalf. To treat your ailments, you need to focus solely on healing and your progress is clearly speaking against you.' She looked up from her work and locked eyes with the ice mage before continuing. 'I don't know what it is but if you want to get better, sort out your problems first.'

Gray gulped as his mind drifted to Juvia. 'Yeah, I will.'

With that he thanked the woman, picked up his medicines and made his way back to his home.

-X-

As soon as he arrived at his dorms, he bumped headfirst into an exiting Erza.

'Gray. I was looking for you,' she said with a slight crinkling of her brow. 'How was our visit to Porlyusica? Did she have anything to say?'

The raven haired man looked down at his feet. 'Yeah everything's fine.'

'Are you trying to lie to me?'

Gray winced.

The re-quip mage let out a sigh and leaned against the dorm wall. 'I spoke to the master and he told me to check on you as both of us were worried. You don't seem to be doing alright. You've even stopped coming to the guild as of late.'

Indeed he had. It didn't appear to hold the same charm that it once did. The guild seemed to have overnight turned from his home to the place that he actively avoided so as to not be plagued by memories.

He knew there was no use in pretending. This woman was not going to let him off the hook so might as well get to the point.

'The old hag-,' he began but was interrupted by a sharp pain on his shoulder.

'What the hell Erza?!' he exclaimed rubbing the area while eyeing her armoured fist with indignation.

'You might be frustrated but that does not mean you can be disrespectful to someone who's probably five times your age. Especially since she's the one keeping you alive. Now you may continue.'

Gray mumbled something under his breath and then proceeded sulkily.

'She said that my mind wasn't concentrating on the healing and that I'm in general very distracted by something. I won't heal properly until and unless I sort that out.'

'And I assume you know what this problem is?'

Damn Erza for knowing him so well.

'Yeah.'

'Then why don't you enlighten me by sharing the information Gray?'

He groaned in exasperation. 'You know what it is already. Why do you want me to say it? Isn't seeing me bothered bad enough? Do you really need me to articulate it?

The red head looked at him thoughtfully for a while before nodding. 'I'm sorry. That was inconsiderate of me. Anything I could do to help?'

Gray sighed and bit his lip. 'The only way I can see this getting resolved is by talking to her and that's something impossible at the moment.' Noticing her confused expression he continued, 'Since she's always out on missions, I can't seem to meet her. Even if I do, she makes it a point to avoid any form of conversation.'

'So it's just the question of seeing her yes?' Erza gave him a triumphant sile. 'As it so happens, I saw Juvia today. She came back after a very long mission apparently.'

Gray still couldn't help but feel pessimistic about the situation.

'What is she left for another one already? What if she's avoiding me on purpose?' he muttered.

'Why should she avoid you? Don't be silly. We're just going to make her talk to you, that's all. Whether she likes it or not,' Erza said without allowing her smile to slip.

'Erza…., I don't know-,' Gray began apprehensively when he realized what she'd just said.

'Wait. Did you just say we?'

Finally that annoying smirk fell and took on a mildly scary form as it morphed into a glare. 'Look Gray. If you think I'm going to just let you suffer and make your condition worse, then I am afraid you haven't learned anything about me in the past few years. Don't be pathetic. We need to resolve this matter as soon as possible.'

Without another word she passed him and he almost let out a sigh of relief when he suddenly felt himself jerk backwards. His eyes looked down over his shoulder as he stumbled behind the overly determined redhead and let out a string of curses when he noticed her fingers around his wrist holding him in a vice grip.

'What the hell do you think you're doing Erza?!'

'Since you aren't willing to do it yourself, I thought I should tag along to provide motivation and morale support.' She turned her head and looked at him without breaking her pace. 'Good idea, don't you think?'

If he didn't know Erza the way he did, Gray would've definitely thought that that last line had been dripping with sarcasm.

He grumbled a little under his breath but also knew at the back of his mind that this probably wasn't the worst brainwave that the re-quip mage had ever had.

-X-

'So you're saying she's not taken a job.' Erza confirmed, her eyes gleaming as she looked at the smiling bartender.

'Yes. Juvia seemed very exhausted. She's probably gone back to her room for the night,' Mira replied in her gentle voice.

The redhead gave her a friendly nod before she once again grabbed Gray (his wrist would be sore by the time he got away from her) and proceeded to rush through the guild hall.

He almost fell as he tried keeping pace with her but that only seemed to increase her speed.

'Can you please let me walk on my own? I think I know the way to the dorms,' Gray managed to say while trying desperately to maintain balance.

Erza halted. 'Excuse me? Why have you been to Fairy Hills? I don't remember myself or any of the other girls ever inviting you there.' If eyes could breathe fire, he'd be toast by now.

'Um, it's just common knowledge. I looked at a map. In theory of course. Never used the knowledge,' Gray found himself saying hurriedly, attempting to hide the real reason (the situation involved something on the lines of a drunk Macau and Wakaba dragging along a couple of curious teenage boys to go peeking). He almost mentioned that she herself had been lurking outside the men's dormitory but then the matter of his wellbeing afterwards thwarted the attempts of his tongue at being a smart ass.

She looked at him dubiously but then turned away and continued walking. It took him only a second to realize that she had let go before he caught up with her.

-X-

Soon enough they were weaving their way through the many corridors of the girls' dorms. Juvia's room was on the third floor, at the end of the corridor.

Erza stood hard-faced in font of door, raised her hand and rapped sharply thrice. There was no response. She tried again but was once again met with silence.

'Maybe she isn't home after all,' Gray said nervously wanting to get away from here as soon as possible. Meeting the water mage for some sort of confrontation along with the redhead was not one of the things he had on his bucket list.

She looked him in the eye. 'Don't worry I know she is.'

Of course she did.

'Juvia? Juvia are you in there? It's Erza.'

For a moment nothing within stirred, allowing the ice mage to hope when all of a sudden the doorknob turned and the blunett peeked out.

Her gaze almost immediately settled on Gray and if possible, her complexion grew even paler.

'Uh, is something wrong Erza?' she asked, eyes now glued to the ground. He noticed that her hair was wet and the portion of her shoulder jutting out from behind the door was bare. She had presumably just stepped out of the shower.

'Nothing to worry about. We simply wanted to talk to you about a few things. May we come inside?' Her voice was still just as forceful as before.

'Way to go,' the ice mage thought to himself as he mentally groaned. 'You really know how to put someone at ease.'

Juvia's distressed face fell into a state of uncertainty. 'Juvia is a little busy at the moment… Can we just talk here?'

'Very well,' the redhead said. 'You have been avoiding the guild recently. Why is that?'

The water mage inhaled sharply. 'Juvia hasn't. It's just that Juvia has been busy lately.'

The lie was so obvious that Gray literally felt his patience snap. He'd been tipped beyond the point of caring about whether he embarrassed her now or not. She'd given him enough reason to be annoyed with her in the past few weeks.

'Then may we ask why exactly have you been working so much? You have enough money don't you? From all the time you spent in Phantom Lord?' he heard himself almost shout at her.

The blunett finally turned around and faced him. But the two orbs that met his black ones were far from what he had been expecting. They seemed void of emotion and when she opened her mouth, the words that followed were equally frigid.

'Gray-sama, Juvia is aware that he is concerned but Juvia's business is her own. Gray-sama does not know anything about her past so she feels it is better for him not mention things that he does not fully understand.'

Her words felt like him being skewered by an icicle.

'Juvia! That is no way of addressing your nakama! Explain yourself right this minute!' Erza exclaimed, shock evident in her voice.

Said water mage directed her gaze at the older woman now but her icy expression somehow did not falter. All her previous hesitation had disappeared into thin air.

'In fact, Juvia does not need to. Juvia will soon no longer be your nakama.'

Both the mages speaking to her blinked.

'Excuse me?' Erza said looking incredulously at the woman in front of her.

'I'm leaving the guild,' she said simply.

If her earlier words has struck him hard, it was nothing compared to now. Gray felt the blood in his veins grow cold. This wasn't happening.

'Gray-sama and Erza will find out about the rest later since Juvia is making a public announcement tomorrow. Please do not ask her anything else,' the water mage added after noticing that there was nothing forthcoming from their side. 'Also, as Juvia mentioned, she has a lot of work so she must go now.'

Juvia gave a curt nod before turning around and shutting her door behind her, leaving the two baffled mages standing all alone in the desolate corridor awash in the crimson light of the setting sun.


	4. Iron wall

**A/N: I can't believe that I'm uploading so quickly but honestly, seeing all your reviews really motivated me.**

 **Apart from that, I've changed the rating from T to M because I might be exploring themes in the future that may not be appropriate for everybody. This does not refer to lemons (I may or may not consider that in the future), just serious topics. I'm very sorry if this is going to turn you away from my story. :(**

 **Anyway, without further ado, here's Chapter 4!**

-X-

 **CHAPTER 4**

Gray was the type of person who, if not in the state of complete exhaustion, would lie on his bed and stare at his ceiling while reviewing his day before indulging in other thoughts. This came handy quite often especially while keeping missions in mind as it permitted him to see where he had gone wrong and all the areas which still required improvement.

Unfortunately, all this careful scrutinizing had gone down the drain in the past few weeks.

Lately all that came to mind was only a certain blunett. His brain refused to allow his thoughts to drift even a foot away from her. But at least all that pondering would culminate in him slipping into dreamland.

However, today his brain had decided to reach its saturation point.

As if the day hadn't been shit enough. Hanging out with a 'concerned' Erza for more than ten minutes was bad enough but spending a whopping two hours together was nothing short of a ticket to Headache Island.

And then of course came the exciting declaration made by the one and only, the woman who seemed to have taken it upon herself to turn Gray's life upside down. Leave the guild? Did he hear her correctly? There was no way she would do that. Anyone who knew her could see that her life, just like all his other guild members', revolved around Fairy Tail. Why would she leave? As far as he knew, everybody loved Juvia and nobody had ever filed any complaints against her (apart from the occasional flooding which were indirectly, more often than not, his own fault).

All this thinking usually guaranteed the ice mage a good night's sleep as he would drift off somewhere in the middle of it all, but today was different. His mind would not shut up and his eyes kept moving between the window and the door, hoping that she would turn up at his doorstep and proceed to explain how everything was just some sort of an act even though chances of that happening were one in a million.

In an attempt to clear his head, he focused on the stars shining bright against the midnight sky outside. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

-X-

Pigeons took to the air in a hurry to get out of Gray's way. Oh Mavis he was late. He hardly overslept so alarms weren't usually necessary but last night his body had seen its chance to ruin its owner's life and grasped it without any hesitation.

It was noon and Juvia was probably already done with whatever announcing she had planned to do.

The guild doors flew open as he strode into the hall. A crowd had formed around the front of the room. Maybe it wasn't over just yet.

That was when he realised, the whole guild was watching his every movement. Every pair of eyes were directed towards him and the more he became conscious of them, more he felt like millions of holes were being drilled through his frame.

Luckily he caught sight of his three friends standing near the edge of the throng and immediately wove his way towards them, trying his hardest to ignore every other person present.

Erza gave him a small nod as he took his place between her and Lucy, who seemed to be at the brink of tears. She reached between them and gave his hand a quick squeeze before letting go and facing forward. Even Natsu was looking at him queerly.

As expected, Juvia was standing in the middle of the group, her back pressed against the wooden counter of the bar. If not for her self-assured expression that she had dawned at the moment, the blunett would have looked very similar to a prey cowering away in its hiding place, afraid that a predator would leap out of thin air at any moment and snap its neck.

She cleared her throat, commanding back the attention that she had previously lost.

'As I was saying,' she began or more fittingly, continued, 'I have decided to leave the guild due to personal reasons.'

The ice mage cocked his head to a side. When exactly had Juvia adopted first person?

'There are matters connected to my past that I have resolved to work out and I believe by staying here in Fairy Tail, I am making no significant progress.' She paused. Her hand reached up and twirled a lock of hair around her fingers.

Gray's mouth popped open in a silent exclamation as it hit him. This was definitely not something Juvia wanted to do. At the very least, she was extremely nervous about it. All the time that he invariably ended up spending with the water mage had taught him a lot about her habits and the one that she had just displayed was characteristic of the times when she was highly unnerved by something. Even the first person switch. It wasn't normal and he doubted she had converted to it permanently. Probably just a manifestation of her anxiety.

Juvia was still speaking and Gray quickly went back to listening to her.

'...appreciated and by no means am I saying that I will forget all of you along with all that you have don-.'

'But Juvia,' a clear voice cut in, 'you still haven't told us what you'll be doing after you leave the guild. I'm sure you wouldn't want all your friends to worry, would you?'

The raven haired man turned in the direction of the speaker and saw Cana lounging on top of one of the bar stools, for once not appearing as though she had been dragged out of a nightclub after drinking five individuals worth of alcohol.

'Yes I was getting to that.' He saw the blunett take a deep breath before carrying on.

'I will be joining Crime Sorcière in my pursuit to redeem myself.'

The guild members collectively gasped as they assimilated the new information she had put forward.

Gray instinctively glanced towards Erza and was met by wide eyes staring in disbelief at the water mage who still seemed to have enough strength to continue looking unfazed. From the corner of his eye he saw Natsu wrap an arm around a trembling Lucy.

'Master,' said Erza looking at Makarov who was perched in his usual place, on top of the bar, 'is this okay with you.'

'It is what she wants so cannot possibly object.'

'Bullshit!' came a roar from the opposite end of the crowd.

Everyone in the hall jerked their heads in the voices direction even though most recognised to whom it belonged to immediately.

'I've had quite enough of this! You can trick them with your crap all you want woman, but you can't lie to me,' raged a very, very angry Gajeel. 'You forget that I've known you all the way back from the days in Phantom Lord and I can assure everybody here that there was no such incident that took place in your past that requires you to take such drastic steps.'

The ice mage couldn't help but smile. Unbeknownst to the majority of Fairy Tail, the iron dragon slayer and Juvia were still very close. Not overtly of course. But every so often they would go on missions together, sit by each other and drink or simply talk for a while. He'd felt a little…. weird about it at first but seeing that Levy wasn't objecting, he too began to accept this odd pairing. Wait, why in Mavis' name was he comparing his relationship with the water mage to the bookworm and Gajeel's?!

He grit his teeth. This was not the time to be thinking about these trivialities. Gajeel must be taking this really hard.

As he once again began watching Juvia, he noticed the same look that she had worn the previous day while she roasted him crawl back onto her face. His heart went out to the dragon slayer even before she opened her mouth.

'I'm aware that you were there (at this point Gray couldn't help but cringe. This whole first person thing was really weird) but please remind yourself that I had been in that guild for far longer than you have. What I may have done in the past may not be known to you at all,' she said in a frigid tone.

The whole guild had once again fallen silent. None of them were used to this strange Juvia who spoke so rudely and disrespectfully. Where was the old version of her who used to spend all day mooning over her Gray-sama and talking to all her friends with utmost care and courtesy?

She swept her gaze over everyone present and spoke once again. 'I'm truly sorry about how sudden this is but Crime Sorcière is passing by Magnolia this very minute so I will be leaving tomorrow morning at ten.' She raised her hand as people started to protest loudly. 'I know this is rushed but it's something I want, something I need, so please. Don't make it any more difficult than it already is for me.' And for once her stoic façade slipped and from a distance he saw her bottom lip quiver. Gray had a sudden urge to barrel through the crowd and hold her in his arm, protecting her from all those accusing eyes that were making her so afraid.

'That's all I had to say and now with your leave, I need to go back home and prepare for tomorrow.' She bowed deeply, letting her long hair fall around her face, hiding it for a fraction of a second from everybody before rising and making her way out of the guild.

At that moment, time seemed to slow and he had absolutely no clue as to what came over him but the next thing he knew, he was outside and his fingers were wrapped around a pale wrist of the water mage.

Their eyes met and two shades of dark blue merged into one as a silent conversation only they could fathom took place in the moments in which they stood there like statues made of ice.

'Why?' Gray whispered, his voice cracking from all the emotion that was coursing through him.

For a minute she did not reply, just continued locking eyes with him but then she finally uttered three words.

'Juvia is sorry.'

And then she was gone.

-X-

'How did you agree to this Jellal?' cried out Erza. 'You know how much we care about her!'

The blue haired man did not reply as he sat on her chair with his head in his hands.

'Answer me Jellal!'

He raised his head but refused to meet her eyes. 'You aren't being rational. There's nothing that I have to say to you.'

The redhead let out a roar of frustration and paced around her room for what seemed like hours before she collapsed back onto her bed. 'I'm calm,' she whispered, wringing her hands together. 'Can I please get an explanation now?'

Jellal finally got up and sat down next to her. He placed his hand on top of hers, laced their fingers together and offered her a gentle smile which she returned with full fervour.

'It happened around two weeks back I think. I'm not quite sure about the time exactly but I do remember that Meredy and I were camping near Hargeon during that period. We were wondering around town at night when Juvia approached us. Meredy was ecstatic to see her friend, so we ended up going to a local tavern for a few drinks. Somewhere during that period she asked us if she could join. And no Erza, before you ask, I was not drunk. None of us were for that matter. We aren't a legal guild so I can't afford to be in case something happens.'

'What reason did she give you?'

Jellal sighed. 'Erza, as much as I would love to tell you everything, whatever she has made pubic should satisfy you. Please don't dig any further. I don't want to undermine her privacy.'

'And I can respect that,' the re-quip mage said as she nodded in agreement. 'Let me revise my question. The reason she gave you, was it enough?'

Even though it was phrased poorly, the tattooed man knew what she meant.

'Yes, yes it was.'

'And that is all I need to know.'

-X-

'Gray,' Natsu acknowledged him with a nod as he walked over and stood next to him.

It was a teary farewell. Most girls, including Erza, were on varying degrees of shedding tears, from 'it's just sweat' (words by none other than the resident redhead) to literal waterfalls. Even some of the men were wiping their eyes when they thought no one was looking.

But the two people who should have been most affected were standing straight with expressionless faces.

Natsu did not understand this. Both Gray and Juvia were oozing the scent of sadness but yet neither would show their emotions. The water mage was quietly allowing herself to be embraced by everybody, exchanging a few smiles and words when necessary but other than that, nothing.

Then the dragon slayer appraised the man at his side. Gray hadn't approached her even though it was obvious to someone as dense as himself that they cared about each other more deeply than everybody else. He was motionless, his eyes stuck on the blunett but his gaze seemed to be looking past her, deep in thought. Natsu recognised his need for some distance and remained silent.

As all members of Fairy Tail watched Juvia wave her final goodbye and head off, the salmon haired man continued viewing Gray. His expression never faltered and at the back of his mind Natsu wondered if his friend had even realised the weight of what had just come to pass.

-X-

 **A/N: Hopefully all that shift in POVs weren't too confusing.**

 **One more thing before I leave, how exactly does Juvia address everybody? Does she still use '-san' and '-kun' or is it only exclusive to Gray? I can't seem to remember...**

 **Thank you, friends. R &R!**

 **-Dusk**


	5. Escape

**A/N: Okay so I think I should make myself clear about exactly when this is happening. I personally don't find myself wanting to mess with anything following the Tartaros arc because come on, it's literally canon after that (especially if you've read the manga *wink wink*). This should be placed somewhere after GMG and the celestial spirit arc I think. Hence elements like the Oracion Seis won't be part of the story.**

 **Without further ado, let's get on with it!**

 **-Dusk**

-X-

Gray's hand flew up at a blinding speed and caught the chair that had been flung at him by a certain extremely frustrated fire dragon slayer, in the hopes of starting a fight. The ravenett sighed and placed the object down next to him where he was seated at the bar, carefully avoiding all forms of contact with Natsu.

Oh, but our resident fire mage was never the one to give up, was he?

Loud thudding footsteps informed Gray that his friend was making his way over to him in an attempt to, probably, irk him with words when all else had failed. This was his fifth effort this week. The first was him trying to trip the ice mage (Gray had stepped over his leg) and followed by trying to pull off the water on top of a door prank (the ice mage froze the water and managed to move away before it hit the floor). Seeing that all of his master plans had failed, Natsu had finally resorted to directly flinging a punch at him which once again Gray avoided by simply vaulting gracefully over the table next to them and continuing on his way. And the most recent being the chair of course (which was also a failure as we just saw).

Yes, Natsu was very, very frustrated (I mean, if it wasn't obvious by the way he had been getting in Gray's face all day, his occasional roars and burning down furniture to cinder on several occasions in the past few days, were more than enough to indicate this) and desperately needed a sparring partner for venting all of it like usual. The poor man had been trying to elicit a response from Gray for the past four months, and apart from humouring him once or twice, the ice mage just couldn't find it in him to join a fight.

'Hey Gray.'

The man being spoken to groaned and looked up. 'Yes Natsu?'

'I thought maybe you should know that Crime Sorcière is visiting today.'

Gray shot up from his seat. 'Excuse me?' he shouted. 'When did this happen?'

The pinkett blinked at him. 'We got the news a few minutes ago. Happy was flying around town and he spotted them. He literally screamed it out when he got back but you looked so out of it that I guessed you hadn't heard.'

Now it was the ice mage's turn to look taken aback. 'Thank you?' he managed to croak out, still processing the new information.

'No problem,' Natsu said as he turned around, nonchalantly waving once before walking to where Lucy was standing, wrapping an arm around her and then dropping a kiss on her forehead. (Gray still felt as if this was all some sort of illusion because no way had Natsu Dragneel, the man who was denser than a rock, asked out a woman. But then again, everybody knew it was bound to happen one day or another.)

As if on cue, the guild doors parted revealing the three figures that a lot of Fairy Tail members had been dying to see for the last few months.

'Juvia!' came a collective cry from pretty much every female present as they ran forward and clamoured around her.

Gray stood transfixed. When the water mage had revealed that she would be joining Crime Sorcière, he had accepted that she wouldn't be visiting very often. The weeks had dragged by at first, but now he'd fallen into a strange routine of waiting. Even though he knew she probably wouldn't want to talk to him when she got back, considering the interactions that had taken place between them a few days prior to her departure, the ice mage merely wanted to see her for the purpose of making sure that she was okay.

And here she was, giving a Gray a full display of her okayness.

She looked older somehow, more mature. Her hair that usually settled past her shoulders in loose curls, was collected up in a bun with a few stray strands framing her pale face. Even from couple of metres away he could tell that she had lost some weight. The only thing that hadn't changed was her heavy getup which she still wore under the Crime Sorcière cloak.

The ravenett found himself smiling. Somethings never change.

At that very moment their eyes met.

It was as if Gray was transported back to their last conversation (if one could call it that), the time they interacted outside the guild the day before she left. All the commotion around him seemed to disappear as their gazes remained locked on each other. Neither moved and the ravenett was afraid that even the slightest lapse on his behalf would destroy the moment. His eyes began to burn and out of sheer necessity, he blinked. And in that fraction of a second, she was gone.

Gray whipped around desperately searching for her. The girls were all still standing together, seemingly not have noticed her sudden disappearance.

As he looked, the ice mage noticed the back door slowly shut. No one used that entrance anymore. Immediately, he strode over to it and slipped into the alley it lead to.

No wonder it had fallen into disuse. Broken bottles and filthy wooden crates littered the cobbled path and the lack of light itself was quite disconcerting. He looked about, his senses being impinged upon by the dingy appearance and far for pleasing odour, but he paid them no heed as he caught sight of the woman he was seeking a few feet away from him.

His heart leaped, and Gray almost called out to her when something held him back.

A puff of smoke escaped Juvia's lips. A shadow of a cigarette dangled from her pale fingers that were protruding from her black cloak. It was as if the dark was swallowing her little by little, leaving nothing but bits and pieces of her fair skin behind. All she was, was a silhouette. A ghost of the mage he once knew, leaning against the grimy wall, now peering at him through a pair of luminescent, cerulean crystal orbs.

A sense of foreboding ran through him.

She turned to him slowly and cocked her head to a side. 'Anything you need Gray?'

Gray. She had called him Gray.

He felt himself take a shaky breath. Her voice was alien to him, holding none of the warmth it used to be filled with earlier.

'Uh,' he said, 'you smoke?' If he was alone, the ice mage would've kicked himself for asking such a ridiculous question, especially to someone who he'd been waiting to see for the past four months.

The blue eyes momentarily vanished as she looked down at her cigarette. 'Yes.'

'I've never seen you do it before.'

'There's a lot you may not know about Juvia.'

At least she still spoke in third person.

Awkward silence filled the cheerless air around them. Juvia once again brought her hand up to her lips and its butt glowed a deeper shade of orange.

'Is there nothing Gray has to say to Juvia?'

The ravenett frowned. 'Why would you think so?'

'Because otherwise Gray would not have been looking at her like that when they were inside and chased her here where they could be alone.'

He shuffled his feet. This whole 'Gray' and cold tone business was going to take some getting used to.

'How're things? Did you manage to sort out your past?'

'Gray really does not have to bother about such things. Juvia's business is her own.'

What was wrong with him? Why had he suddenly got his foot in his mouth? Even a five year old would have more tact.

'I'm sorry. That might have been a little out of line,' he mumbled, scratching his head, 'What I meant to ask, was how you were doing with regard to Jellal and Meredy.'

She threw her smoke down and stepped on it before facing him fully, allowing him to see her face finally. 'Juvia is doing fine. They are very nice to her.'

'That's good to know,' Gray said while offering a smile which to his delight, she returned albeit a little half-heartedly

'But you look like you've lost some weight. Are you eating alright?' he asked and almost instantly realised that maybe this wasn't a topic he should have broached since it made him sound like one of those annoying, overly concerned, always-in-your-face people.

Her gentle features that had previously taken the form of a smile, contorted as she glared at him. 'Juvia is taking care of herself just fine. And has nobody told Gray that he is the one who looks like he has been starved for weeks?'

It was true. People at the guild had been reminding him on a daily basis about how he was shrinking. Not literally of course, but with reference to his build. He had lost about ten kilos in the past few months and it had taken a toll on his physique too. His magic was still top notch but he could pack lesser into each punch he threw as the days flew by.

He shrugged.

The water mage let out an exasperated sign and may have even accompanied it with an eye roll before moving forward and passed him to reach for the door.

'You're happy right?' Gray blurted out before he could stop himself, looking at the blunett's still form, her hand pressed against the wood of the entrance.

For a moment he thought she would reply, but after a handful of seconds of that tense silence, she continued on her way leaving him alone in the darkness.

With a heavy heart, he followed after.

-X-

 _Meanwhile…_

'…everything is fine Erza. She's a real asset,' Meredy said while grinning. 'Besides, it nice to finally have female company after spending so much time with this cranky man.' She jerked her head towards Jellal who was sitting next to the pinkette.

The re-quip wizard laughed as he frowned and protested softly.

'She does run off on her own every once in a while though,' She added thoughtfully, bringing her glass of alcohol to her lips and downing it in one go.

'And that's not a matter of concern? Doesn't she inform you of her whereabouts?' Erza asked, looking at Jellal with raised eyebrows.

'Not really,' Meredy answered with a shrug before the older mage could, and proceeded to call Mira asking her for seconds.

Noticing that Erza didn't look satisfied, the blunett added, 'You know she's trying to deal with her past. We promised her we won't interfere.'

He turned to the drinking woman to his right next. 'Slow down,' Jellal said to her. 'Remember that you're not supposed to get drunk.'

The pinkette stuck her tongue out at him, indicating that the liquor had already started getting to her. 'Lighten up! We're in Fairy Tail! What could possibly go wrong?' she giggled.

Almost as if the world had heard her words and decided to respond, the guild entrance flew open revealing two figures standing against the light, making it difficult to identify them.

'Okay, I take it back. Things may just get ugly,' Meredy hiccupped as she regarded the visitors with wide eyes.

'Sherria is that you?' came a voice from the table near Erza's.

'Wendy!' cried the person at the door, and the two girls met each other halfway in a tight hug.

As the redhead viewed the other person, she'd already guessed it would be the ice mage from Lamia Scale even before he entered the guild.

'Hello Lyon,' she said, rising from her place to greet him.

'Hey Erza,' he replied with a wave.

'What's up with the sudden visit?' said Natsu, who'd made his way to them along with Lucy.

Lyon moved his gaze from them to the mages of Crime Sorcière who were silently watching this exchange from their seats, and smiled. 'We were passing by so we decided to drop in.'

Erza noticed the look he had directed towards the pair next to her and couldn't help but wonder if there was another motive behind this visit.

'Also, I heard that these guys,' the silver haired man nodded towards Jellal and Meredy, 'were here.'

'And what does that have to do with anything?' the celestial mage asked, with a frown marring her forehead.

Lyon grabbed his chest and looked at her as if she had hurt him in the worst way possible. 'Oh come on Lucy! Why wouldn't a man want to see his girlfriend?'

Erza blinked. Wait, what?!

Now it was the ice mages turn to pucker his brow. 'Juvia didn't tell you? Speaking of which, where-'

At that very moment the re-quip mage saw the backdoor open, letting in Juvia and Gray.

The man from Lamia Scale spied them as well and rushed forward in a hurry. 'Juvia, my sweetheart!' he called out.

Both the wizards froze, and looked in the direction of the voice. The water mage seemed borderline horrified and Gray just plain confused.

Upon reaching her, Lyon wrapped his arms around her rigid body. 'I missed you so much!' he said, moving away and holding her by her shoulders. 'Couldn't you at least contact me?'

The entire guild was hushed, holding their breaths and keeping their eyes fixed on the pair.

Meredy dropped her head onto her hands resting on the table. 'I don't want to watch this,' she groaned.

Juvia still hadn't acknowledged her so called boyfriend properly and appeared extremely uncomfortable with the way he was holding her. The ravenett was still standing motionless.

The older ice mage must've noticed too because he let her go and regarded her with concern. 'You okay honey?' he enquired gently and cupped her cheek. 'Is everything all right?' And then suddenly swooped down, pressing a quick kiss to her lips.

Before the guild could even react, let alone do the over dramatic gasp in unison, a hand had shoved Lyon away.

'What the fuck do you think you're doing?' said Gray, his tone scathing as he stood next to Juvia, an arm protectively stretched in front of her.

'What do you think _you're_ doing?' shouted the other man. 'She's my girlfriend. I can kiss her if I want to.'

Erza inhaled sharply, observing her friends shocked expression.

His eyes grew wide and he turned to Juvia slowly. 'Is it true?' Gray asked, voice cracking.

The woman was quivering by now, her head ducked low. She gave the smallest of nods but still refused to look up.

'See?' Lyon said, giving him a triumphant look.

Once again there was silence as the ice mage being spoken to, gradually began realising what exactly was happening.

But his face was blank, expressionless. Just like Juvia's during the day prior to her departure.

'I'm…I'm happy for you,' Gray said, presenting an extremely pained smile to go with his strained words.

The older man stepped past him and put his arm around the blunette. 'Thank you.'

The next thing Erza knew, the ravenett was already gone.

She started moving towards the door too, when the redhead noticed the fire mage exiting the hall.

Making eye contact with Lucy, she nodded and sat back down across from Jellal. Natsu was capable of handling this. For now, she would do her bit and watch over this strange new couple for as long as they were in the guild.

-X-

 **A/N: Ok but can we talk about the manga.**

 _ *********SPOILER START**********_

 **DID YOU GUYS READ THE NEW CHAPTER? GAJEVY? OH MY GOD. GAJEEL MY CHILD, YOU GO SHOW "THE WOMAN YOU FELL FOR" HOW MUCH SHE MEANS TO YOU! LLFJNEHCFLMEJWBCL!**

 **But seriously, I died. I reread the chapter thrice to make sure I wasn't seeing things.**

 _ **********SPOILER OVER**********_

 **Thanks for all the support! Leave a review, I love reading what you all have to say. ^_^**

 **-Dusk**


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